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Who We Are

Who We Are

In the early 1990s, UNHCR operations in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan were relatively small, serving a few thousand refugees and asylum-seekers from several countries in the Middle East and North Africa region. In the aftermath of the Iraqi war in 2003, the operation expanded to meet the needs of refugees who were fleeing Iraq. After the crisis in Syria erupted in March 2011, however, hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees were forced to flee across the border and seek international protection in Jordan. For the last decade, UNHCR has been working to ensure their protection.

Huda stands with her two daughter Rahaf, 16 and Nagham, 9

Syria’s war has left millions of internally displaced persons and forced millions to seek refuge across neighboring countries and beyond, turning the Middle East into the world’s largest producer and host of forcibly displaced people. Amid this protracted humanitarian crisis, the fall of the Assad government in December 2024 and Syria’s political transition marked a turning point, for a country that has suffered for more than 14 years of conflict. As a result, voluntary return has become a real possibility for hundreds of thousands of Syrians in Jordan. One year into the transition, UNHCR has recorded the return of over 185,000 Syrians from Jordan while about 404,000 remain currently registered with UNHCR Jordan.

Additionally, Jordan hosts refugees of Iraqi, Yemeni, Sudanese, Somali and other nationalities, for a total of some 427,000 individuals, making Jordan one of the countries with the highest refugee population per capita, and placing enormous pressure on the country and its host communities.

UNHCR Jordan is now running one main office located in Amman and has two field offices in Jordan’s two main refugee camps, Azraq and Zaatari as well as a field unit in Irbid governorate.

UNHCR works closely with the Government of Jordan and numerous other national and international partners in providing protection and assistance to refugees and asylum seekers, as well as to Jordanian communities affected by the refugee influx.

(As of 1 March 2026)

Palestinian registered refugees are cared for in some 60 camps across the Middle East (including Jordan) by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), which was set up in 1949 to care for displaced Palestinians.

UNHCR globally

UNHCR, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (or the UN Refugee Agency), is a global organization dedicated to saving lives, protecting rights and building a better future for refugees, forcibly displaced communities and stateless people.

We work to ensure that everybody has the right to seek asylum and find safe refuge, having fled violence, persecution, war or disaster at home.

Since 1950, we have faced multiple crises on multiple continents, and provided vital assistance to refugees, asylum-seekers, internally displaced, returnees and stateless people, many of whom have nobody left to turn to.